27% of Streamers Don't Think Live Video Is Worth Paying for Yet

Is there a quality gap in live video streaming? While major live streamed events continue to see record numbers of attendees, a report from Phenix says 27 percent of U.S. adults who use streaming services don't think live streaming is worth paying for at this time. Poor experiences have them convinced the technology behind live isn't good enough. For 21 percent, live streaming is out of the question because they can't put up with latency and buffering.

Phenix, of course, creates peer-to-peer live video technology and promises sub-second latency, so it's worth noting the source. After commissioning a YouGov online survey of 1,110 adults in June, Phenix finds that 53 percent would abandon a poor-quality stream in 90 seconds or less, and 35 percent would wait no more than a minute for a stream to improve before giving up on it.

Besides seeing quality issues, live streaming has a discoverability problem. Phenix says 24 percent don't know if the OTT services they use offer live streaming, and 12 percent don't know where to find the content they want to stream.

But how real is this problem, considering that live streaming seems to be taking off in a big way? Phenix insists the issue is major.

“People are experiencing significant issues with their live-streams—oftentimes, delays anywhere from 10, 30, even 60 seconds," says Bill Wishon, chief product officer at Phenix. "We personally tested the quality of Amazon’s recent U.S. Open live-stream in the U.K. and found that two devices using the same Wi-Fi connection were 32 seconds out of sync, despite being in the same room, and the live-stream was often delayed by almost 45 seconds compared to broadcast TV. We’ve conducted this type of testing for US-based live-streaming too—the Super Bowl, March Madness—and found similar results."